Leveraging Information Technology Tools to Create Cost-Effective Alternatives: Using Google Sheets as a Platform for Competitive Debate and Public Speaking Tabulation.

Leveraging Information Technology Tools to Create Cost-Effective Alternatives: Using Google Sheets as a Platform for Competitive Debate and Public Speaking Tabulation. | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Leveraging Information Technology Tools to Create Cost-Effective Alternatives: Using Google Sheets as a Platform for Competitive Debate and Public Speaking Tabulation. Franco Osei-Wusu, William Asiedu, Donald Yeboah, Shuvajyoti Kar, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5731726/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Traditional web-based tabulation systems used for extracurriculars like debate competitions, while offering robust features, usually pose cost and accessibility challenges for respective stakeholders in the debate community within academic settings. Such challenges tend to limit participation, frequency of organization, or the smooth running of such events. In this paper, we leverage Google Sheets’ inherent features like Apps Script, Google Forms, real-time collaboration, and cloud functionality to create a cost-effective alternative, Tab XYZ, for debate and public speaking tabulation purposes. We examine and compare the proposed system’s key functionalities and architecture to a widely used conventional web-based platform, Tabbycat, through a comprehensive evaluation via metrics such as user satisfaction, ease of setup, cost-effectiveness, system reliability, data security and privacy, and error handling and management. After rigorous testing involving a diverse group of 435 users across five different debate and public speaking tournaments, results confirmed Tab XYZ's superior cost-effectiveness, comparable user satisfaction, robust data security through Google's infrastructure, and timely setup process. Additionally, the experiments revealed that the proposed system presented user-friendly and robust error handling and data recovery capabilities through offline functionality. Finally, this study presents a pathway for leveraging the integration of readily available Information Technology tools, such as Google Sheets and its features, to create innovative solutions for specialized problems within educational settings, to elude the burden of cost and accessibility that usually come with conventional approaches Information Retrieval and Management Full Text Additional Declarations "Participant Consent Statement All participants in this study provided their consent to participate in the research. Consent was obtained either directly through participant agreement or, in the case of minors, through their legal guardians. Participation was entirely voluntary, and participants were informed about the nature and scope of the study before registering. Data collection was conducted using Google Forms, where participants explicitly agreed to have their information used for research and system evaluation purposes. This study involved no sensitive personal information, and all collected data were anonymized and stored securely. The need for additional formal consent was waived by the approving ethics committee, as the research complied with institutional guidelines and ethical standards for minimal-risk studies" The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5731726","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":395555125,"identity":"92a8ff75-f587-497d-a69c-f6faef9539f3","order_by":0,"name":"Franco Osei-Wusu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA2klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJCCAyCCX/4wiJaQIV6L5Ay2BJAWHuKtMrjBYwCiCWvh5z988DBvW13ihts9n1/dqLHgYWA/fHQDPi2SM9ISgFoOJ868c3abdc4xoMN40tJuEHLP4dy2A4l9B3K3GeewAbVI8Jjh13L+/AeglrrEhgM5z4xz/hGj5UAOA1ALc+KEGznMj3PbiNAC9IvB4T/nDhvP7DlmxpzbJ8HDRsgvwBB7/HFGWZ1sP3vz48853+rk+NkPH8OrBRmwSYBJYpWDAPMHUlSPglEwCkbByAEAfStOMaxUypcAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8997-7077","institution":"AAMUSTED, Kumasi, Ghana.","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Franco","middleName":"","lastName":"Osei-Wusu","suffix":""},{"id":395555126,"identity":"997245d8-bafd-46d6-8d10-10462d4f2332","order_by":1,"name":"William Asiedu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"AAMUSTED, Kumasi, Ghana.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"William","middleName":"","lastName":"Asiedu","suffix":""},{"id":395555127,"identity":"0562ea88-7e22-4e9a-9bb1-a1f7d25b4661","order_by":2,"name":"Donald Yeboah","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"AAMUSTED, Kumasi, Ghana.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Donald","middleName":"","lastName":"Yeboah","suffix":""},{"id":395555128,"identity":"97757467-71ef-4c52-922f-67826aac3c4b","order_by":3,"name":"Shuvajyoti Kar","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) Deemed University, India","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shuvajyoti","middleName":"","lastName":"Kar","suffix":""},{"id":395555129,"identity":"68fbd7ed-d47c-4fe0-8ad7-3835362aa41b","order_by":4,"name":"Siddique Abubakr Muntaka","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Cincinnati, Ohio,USA","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Siddique","middleName":"Abubakr","lastName":"Muntaka","suffix":""},{"id":395555130,"identity":"7fc879df-c9d9-4d3a-a469-6f0b6c8a1899","order_by":5,"name":"Joel Kwesi Appiah","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Cincinnati, Ohio,USA","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Joel","middleName":"Kwesi","lastName":"Appiah","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-12-29 23:16:33","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5731726/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5731726/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":73015496,"identity":"843e3e81-4bb1-461f-8127-dd0e548f6428","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-01-06 02:40:08","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":907528,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"TabXYZPaperFinal.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5731726/v1_covered_d3be39c0-1361-4328-852b-01709dc84c12.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cp\u003e\"Participant Consent Statement All participants in this study provided their consent to participate in the research. 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